New Delhi, June 19 -- On 12 June, SpaceX completed its record public listing in the US, catapulting to become the fifth-largest company in the world at a valuation of over $2.5 trillion. In many ways, the company remains an outlier-the reusable rocket technology that it has perfected over the past two decades is not truly matched at its scale by anyone. India, meanwhile, is way behind with a nascent space industry. Can it become just as big one day? Mint takes a look.

Founded in March 2002 by Elon Musk, SpaceX is one of a kind in terms of the technology that it indigenously developed and owns and operates today. The tech in question is that of a reusable rocket-a technology that has reduced the cost of launching satellites from over $54 ...